What is it good for in the real world? If all you own is a motorcycle and it brakes, well you need to get parts! If you can not get a ride you walk to get them! Hey its raining, what do you mean you do not have a rain suit? Oh spent the money on Chrome. Well lets see maybe you can pull that big ass Chrome primary cover off and duct tape it to some other piece of chrome or a stick and now you got an umbrella. May be your bike is not broke, but still raining, why not riding now? Well lets see, still no rain suite and you do not want to get your chrome wet right? Now it is a nice day, what do you mean you have to clean and shine the Chrome before you ride it, you have not been anywhere yet and it might rain ! You are on the road at last made it to the local bike hangout but you got to hurry home it looks like rain, I would hope you made it with out getting the Chrome dusty. What did you buy the motorcycle for? To ride, or buy Chrome to make it the cool machine, maybe you would have been better off just getting the chrome and just hauling it to where you want to show it off! You save on fuel, not tag or insurance and you can pile it where ever you want and be cool. By the way do not give me that safety line, that you can be seen better I thought that was why you bought those loud ass drag pipes and the add on air horns. A flat black Road Bike (1 step above a true Rat. No oil leaks or parts tapped/wired on maybe1 piece of chrome) will serve you just as well.Buy a rain suit and ride your motorcycle. Why would you want to take a ride and be in fear of having a dirty motorcycle.

Kurt now out of 365 days in a year how much rain do you see (Wild Guess 30 days)? My kid and her husband live in Mesa and rain is a flash flood! In 10 trips to Az from the East Coast I only saw rain once and that was in Phoenix. I guess you all have a lot of seeing eye dogs cause all that Chrome will blind people. Do you all use sunglasses or burning goggles? You know at least I can take mine out on I-10 and always make some spare change as an added attraction with the Thing! With all the weird crap they got at that place I fit right in. By the way you seen any good dust storms lately? Want some real fun how long do you think Chrome last when you have to ride in the snow and sleet? They use rock salt on the roads here! I do like them Flatheads you have but you need some spice, try flat black or flat red!

Chrome will get you home. My old friend Riles was riding his 49 Pan, fresh up and loaded with new chrome parts. He may have spent too much on the shiney and not enough on the oily, suffered motor failure in Kansas City. Sold his freshly chromed wheels, oil tank and misc. parts, got enough money to buy an old pickup truck that got him and what was left of the Pan back to Wisconsin.

Actually rww47.....you don't know me as many here do....I used to live in Holland and then Ohio over the past decade.....just moved to Az little over a year ago.....so yes, I know rock salt very well, I know torrential downpours very well also and I do (did) ride all my chrome bikes in the rain....the chopper not so much though. And I'd take a rain storm over being caught in a dust storm any day.

What are you all up in the air about? If you own a rain suit and use it and you ride in foul weather then the post is not about you! I bet you would not like my 47 UL. Need I say no shine a whole lot of flat paint, and I used what ever came along. You never saw a pile of crap look so good. Oil and Water do not mix to good either. See you on the road you will not be hard to miss. Ride Safe!

I have a hankering for all types of bikes. Over the years I've lost much of the appeal I used to have for chrome but I still do see it's beauty. I just don't like to polish it anymore. A rat bike is special to me. A rat bike don't need a thing minus reliability. If it fits and works properly, it goes on. No appearance to worry over, just reliability with the basics. On the other hand, a pristine original makes me mouth water. A restored rider does the same thing to me. Hell... even a tralier queen will make me drool. That is me though....now....not way back when.

"Chrome's a good thing on Indians. Keeps the focus of attention on the bike rather than the trailer it sits on." That's a realy strange thing to say! Since Harley always used more chrome than Indian. I usually see about 200 to 300 Hardlys on trailers to 1 Indian. The last Indian that I built has been hauled 3 times in the last 44 years two of those times were while it was a basket and once to a VIN inspection where they told me that I would go to jail if I rode it in. It even rode to the photo shoot for this months The Horse BC. My 44 even rode home after it broke a piston, you would think that origional pistons would last more than 67 years. Of course I did have to re ring it in 1964. Dusty

I've taken plenty of shit for my shiny Aluminum and Chrome over the years. My good friend Killer once called Dago Red a weirdo magnet one day after I was rushed by a drunk as we left a bar after mid afternoon refreshment." If you didn't have all that shiny stuff, we would have been on the road 20 minutes ago". I would tell you I'm sorry, but I'm not ! I guess we all have different means of gratification. Another good friend Mort, had an answer to those that criticized his custom cars " Anybody can do a restoration, but it takes a man to chop a top. Bolt on chrome is 1/2 the way there in my humble opinion. Plating non-aluminum stock parts is a page out of the big balls book. JKE

I opened up and helped whore off a barnfull for a family back in the '80's, and they let me keep the absolutely worst hardware for myself. Most of the wheels were too good, because they were paint and cad.But one was rusted so badly that after blasting, you could see through pits on the nipples to the threads on the spokes. When I opened the hub, I found it was absolutely virgin, without even marks upon the tanged thrustwasher to indicate it had ever been on an axle and spun.